Esperanza Rising

Ryan, P.M. (2000). Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic Press.  

Lexile Score: 750L

Summary: Esperanza is a 13 year old girl living a wealthy life on a ranch in Mexico until her father is tragically killed. This forces Esperanza and her mother to flee to California where they face struggles of being extremely poor, hard labor, and strikes: things they never had to deal with in Mexico. Esperanza must quickly learn to adapt to the new land and keep her head up in order for her and her mother to survive.

Evaluation: The story has several conflicts for children to explore including death, hard labor, and overcoming a new difficult life. Some of the conflicts are resolved by Esperanza stepping up as a young lady for her mother who is ill. There are some stereotypes such as the women taking care of the babies and the men doing the extremely hard labor. However, Esperanza, her mother, and other females also do difficult labor. Therefore, females as well as males are depicted equally in leadership roles.

The protagonist (Esperanza) reflects a variety of backgrounds. She comes from a wealthy family life with servants, fancy dresses, and never being told what to do. When she reaches California, all of that changes and it all becomes something of her past. The story offers children a variety of themes to think about, to question, and to consider.

There are also several lessons to be learned and explored like hope, hardships, and even death. The story represents a variety of settings such as Mexico verses California. The story will definitely encourage discussions especially when discussing the many different themes. Even though readers are exposed to multiple perspectives and values, I personally found it confusing at times to keep track of the different characters, so I would have preferred it if the book was written in first person rather than omniscient.

Literary Elements: Setting- The huge difference between the wealthy life in Mexico with servants vs. California where Mexicans must complete difficult tasks in order to survive.

Conflict- There are several different conflicts that would work, but the main one is that Esperanza must learn to live a new life as a poor migrant in California after her father is killed and her lavish home is destroyed by a fire in Mexico.

Mood- Hopeful. Throughout the story, all you can think about is rising above and trying to think optimistically that everything will be alright. The mood is very hopeful.

Mini Lesson: First, have a mini lesson on mood. Then, have torn up pieces of paper with different moods on it in a bucket/hat and have each student pick a piece of paper with a mood from the bucket. The students must come up with a short story with the mood that they have chosen. Then, they must share their short story with a partner.

Target Audience: 3^rd-7^th grade because it’s a fairly easy read, but has some rough topics explored such as death and the Great Depression. It would be a good idea to have a lesson on the Great Depression prior to reading this story as a class and being sure to discuss it in depth.